why waste not?

The Stats:

The U.S. uses 25 percent of the world's resources, though it has less than 5 percent of the world's population.

Americans produce twice as much garbage, per capita, as the citizens of other industrialized countries.

40 percent of waterways in the U.S. are no longer fit for swimming or fishing.

The average American car gets less miles to the gallon than Henry Ford's 1908 Model T.

source: America's Environmental Report Card: Are We Making the Grade? By Harvey Blatt

Straining the waste

I continue to be dismayed at my waste creation despite my efforts to not do so! The original plan was to keep all created waste in my grocery sized bag in my room. Then there were a few additional items, so I thought I'd just make a mental note of those. Only a couple of weeks into this, however, and I'm wondering if it has already spiraled out of control. Besides what is in my room (which still consists primarily of dental floss and produce stickers and ties), I threw out the plastic bag that some potting soil came in. Additional bags are just awaiting their landfill resting place as I use them up to start more plants (the starts are incredibly cute, though! :)).

Food seems to be the biggest issue. Today, we took a colleague out to lunch to discuss grant possibilities. I hadn't been to the restaraunt and assumed they had plates, but it was more like up-scale fast food--plastic reusable trays but throwaway inserts and paper plates. Tomorrow the office is ordering food--partly in honor of me--and I could certainly decline and bring my own lunch. But I'm choosing to have a throw-away container delivered with all the others. Hmmm....

Perhaps the most interesting part of this time of awareness is seeing new possibilities and considering what I would need in my life to eliminate trash, piece by piece. For example, if I had a bigger place to garden and compost, I could create my own potting soil and not need to buy it. Or, if I knew someone who had created their own then if I had something to barter, I could again eliminate the plastic bag. Take out food is still a hard one, though. I'm sure some restaurants would put food in my own container.

A piece of created trash that helps me eliminate more trash: I bought a tea strainer and bulk tea. The strainer came in a recyclable box but also in a plastic bag (thus the trash). However, I no longer have to purchase tea in shrink wrapped boxes and [sometimes] individually wrapped packets. Yay!

Waste Not tip: Use a canvas, or some other type of re-usable bag, to do your grocery-ing and eliminate dealing with 300 to 700 plastic shopping bags (which in turn saves three to seven gallons of crude oil) a year!

cheese and no reading

So glad to see comments and Cicada's post!

I, too, share the cheese dilemma. Jane told me the other day, however, that our recycling facility handles "films" of all types (plastic bags, cereal bags, cheese wrappers?). I was a bit dubious but am going to investigate! Of course, the goal is to eliminate even recyclable packaging, but being able to recycle a cheese wrapper is a step in the right direction.

And about the metaphysical "waste not" challenge: I'm reading/doing this book called The Artist's Way, a Spiritual Path to Creativity by Julia Cameron. It's a 12-week course that involves daily journaling ("morning pages") and other self-illuminating :) tasks. I am enjoying it! This past week's main challenge was to not read... That was hard! I wasn't expecting it and was a bit miffed by the book's audacity to even suggest such a thing! I decided to continue my commitment to the book, though, and included internet in the "reading" category. This was actually good timing, since I've realized that I waste a good deal of time aimlessly searching the web, and I wanted to replace that with more useful, healthy, active things.

Instead of internet this week, I called people, played the piano, cooked multiple real meals, cleaned, did laundry, cleaned again, went to fun events (a movie and discussion night about wind power!), started an art project (Cicada's to-be-belated birthday present...) that I've wanted to so for over a year. I definitely feel like it was a full and good week, and I liked not having so much face time with the computer. Strangely, though, I got less sleep than usual...

More later. Please take a minute to read Geoff's quotes in the comments. Here's one: “This intense apathy in all of us is the first great mystery of life; it stands in the way of every perception, every virtue. There is no making ourselves feel enough astonishment at it….I tell you truly that, as I strive more with this strange lethargy and trance in myself, and awake to the meaning and power of life, it seems daily more amazing to me that men should dare to play with the most precious truths.” 334 John Ruskin

Day 1, On the Move

I'm on this Waste Not Journey with Amy. We discussed this over the phone and decided to make it happen for ourselves and whoever else was excited about seeing what it means for them. I realized that Lent, and thus my [official] quest for less waste, would start while I was out of town at a conference. I tried to plan accordingly--I took plastic containers for restaraunt leftovers and some of my own snacks and food. (Back home later, I again took plastic containers to a restaraunt and someone mentioned that it took too much time to do such things. I contended that it's more a matter of habit than time--I have long been in the habit of taking cloth shopping bags to the store. Taking containers to restaraunts is just a habit that I need to make regular and it won't seem difficult to remember or do.)

Temptation hit on the first day, however. At REI, we were offered free snacks from their collection: protein bars, trail mix, etc. I was hungry and a snack would have been nice but I walked over to the snack area without much hope. Sure enough, nothing was wrapped in anything other than throw away packaging, so I regretfully declined. A ray of hope: REI is aiming to be a no-landfill waste company by 2010 (I think I have the date correct) and they seem to be taking great steps toward that. They work with companies that supply them to help them design better packaging (i.e., less of it and recyclable). That's exciting!

More later--I share the public restroom/paper towel dilemna with Amy and my latest dilemna is cheese. Must I really do without it for 40 days?

Becky

Day 1 of Waste Not

I produced one piece of trash here at home. It is a wrapper from some cheese that was almost gone... (Should've finished it yesterday!) But my dilemma for the day was throwing away paper towels after drying my hands at the school where I subbed. The sanitation thing, when working with kids who sneeze in your face (I actually felt spit hit my mouth twice today. Ugh.), is not optional. But I need to figure out how to carry something (a hand towel? Douglas Adams would be proud!) with me... Might have to have an entire backpack with reusable containers (for carry-out!), towels, eating utensils, my Nalgene, etc.

Here's a fledgling list of areas that we (yes, the thousands of us who read this blog) can address in this waste not conversation:

Food Production (production of meat, in particular)
Culture
Government
Automobiles / Gas Mileage
Religion
Family
Consumption

Shew!

:) Amy

Waste Not Begins!

Hello! So here's our collective waste not journal. It's a place to post inspiration, gleanings, frustrations and all ideas pertinent to the waste not paradigm. Please feel free to invite others to participate! It might be nice to sign off on posts, so we know who's been here.
More later,
Amy